We examine the portrayals of two good working mothers in popular work-family balance films-Melanie in One Fine Day (1996) and Kate in I Don 't Know How She Does It (2011).Using a critical standpoint, we build on communication work-family/life scholarship to extend theoretical understanding of underlying ideological notions of the good working mother. In particular, we analyze Melanie and Kate's performances that reflect the underlying cultural ideologies of being an ideal worker, a true domestic woman, and an intensive mother. Further, we explicate how this juggling of identities portrays good working mothers as perpetually defensive. We go beyond the analysis of ideologies to lay out some of the consequences of the performance portrayals of the good working mother, in that she should (a) accept While the broadest definition of juggling is to "continuously toss into the air and catch (a number of objects) so as to keep at least one in the air while handling the others," the second most common definition is to "cope with by adroitly balancing, i.e. she works full time, juggling her career with raising children" (Oxford Dictionary, 2015). Indeed, "juggling" language is also used by work-life scholars; as one example, Golden (2001) notes how "multiple role-identities associated with work and family require juggling conflicting demands" (p. 233). Women in particular "juggle responsibilities" as they strive to be good workers and good mothers, also known as good working mothers 1 Turner & Norwood, 2013). Notably, there is no parallel term of a good working father; since discourses of work-family/life issues often reflect gendered role expectations of work and private responsibilities, the personification of "balance" seems more targeted at working mothers, reflecting how work-family/life conflicts are sometimes viewed WORKING MOTHERS AS JUGGLERS 4 as merely a "women's issue" in the workplace (Drago, 2007;Kirby & Buzzanell, 2014).We critically examine how mediated portrayals of the "juggling act" of the good working mother reflect the underlying cultural ideologies of being an ideal worker, a true domestic woman, and an intensive mother. Further, we explicate how this juggling of identities portrays good working mothers as perpetually defensive, laying out how these portrayals to teach women to (a) accept "punishments" from children, (b) conceptualize fathers as secondary parents, (c) solve problems on their own, and (d) choose family over work. Leading in to this critical examination, it important to describe our varied positionalities as people and scholars.Our working relationship began in a five-day work/life course led by the first author at the National Communication Association Institute for Faculty Development. We spent a week immersing ourselves in the work/life literature, watching these work/life films, and discussing ways to integrate this research into our teaching and indeed our lives. From this experience, the five of us decided to work together on a deeper analysis of the films we referenced i...
